B&O RR Inspection Engine 1870s

I have always been fascinated by the the more unusual railroad equipment of the latter 19th and early 20th centuries. This inspection engine is one of that genre, used not only by inspectors but by railroad dignitaries. One would assume that inspections could be done quite well and in greater comfort by using a private car behind an engine, but a benefit may be the high elevation afforded by perching the car atop the engine - even higher than a typical engineer's cab position. Surely, since such an engine would not ordinarily be used for anything other than the purpose for which it was designed, it was also something of a luxury – a bit of company arrogance.

Whoever rode in this affair would want to have a degree of faith in the operators since they were literally riding on the most volatile part of any steam engine – I have a few images of what an exploded steam engine looks like after such a mishap (I'll post a couple of them soon)!

The canvas tents in the background of this 4-6-0 engine seem to suggest that this was part of a display, perhaps the 1876 Centennial celebrations, an exposition or industrial exhibition of some kind. Since these engines are not newly painted and spiffed up, it may be equipment currently in use by the railroad, but they could be on historical display if this image is early 20th c. (I am not aware of any inspection engines that have survived as part of transportation museums and I have never seen them except in photos and illustrations).

Unlike the Galloping Goose and other self-propelled railroad equipment, the inspection engine is not popular enough among model railroad fans for them to be available for purchase; I built a scratchbuilt running model in the late 1970s for my own edification.

Erie & Wyoming Valley 4-4-0 Camelback, 1880s

This lovely little 4-4-0 Camelback engine, No. 14, of the Erie & Wyoming Valley Railroad is the first antique photo I ever bought nearly 40 years ago, a large mounted cabinet print in its original frame; likely a professional company photo, it is in pristine condition. It sits on the turntable at a large roundhouse, but I have not yet discovered where that was located.

It took me several years to discover that E&WV was the Erie & Wyoming Valley RR which superseded a gravity line when it was converted to steam by the Pennsylvania Coal Company, chartered under that name as early as 1864, but not completed until perhaps 1884 (?). It was primarily an anthracite coal hauling line into Pennsylvania's coalfields, but it also ran express passenger trains on parts of the division every day of the week except Sunday. History on the web for this company is sketchy at best, but it was purchased by the Erie Railroad in 1901, yet it had always had a connection as an extension of the Erie's far-reaching lines which eventually went to Chicago (railroad history is convoluted at best).

I have seen one other photo of an E&WV camelback, No. 16, but it was a 4-6-0 configuration which was more common to coal hauling, so I think this smaller one was early and may have been for passenger service. The camelback is one of my favorite engine configurations (in the late 1970s I scratch-built my own running 4-4-0 camelback model engine based on this photo because it wasn't available on the market, most model examples being 4-6-0).

Steam Giants Prowl The Earth

From another real photo postcard, 1913, is this Achison, Topeka and Santa Fe 2-10-10-2 Mallet locomotive numbered 3009 – the last of the ten that were built. Beginning in 1911, the railroad converted normal 2-10 Mallets into this huge compound configuration, but rather than being truly two engines, what appears to be the second steam boiler is actually a superheater of sorts, a reheater and a feedwater heater. The design proved to be unsuccessful and the company reconverted all ten engines to their original configuration between 1915 and 1918.

In 1918, the Virginian railroad had true compound articulated 2-10-10-2 engines built which were so successful that they were used right into the 1950s. Union Pacific built a 4-8-8-4 compound nicknamed the "Big Boy", but most companies like Norfolk & Western settled on 2-8-8-2 compound articulateds (N&W Y6B) as the preferred configuration which eliminated the need for doubleheading on long grades and were well-suited to hauling coal in mountainous terrain.

AT&SF obviously used the incredible size of this engine for promotional purposes (the banners are not readable, perhaps because the photographer was selling an unsanctioned postcard); it is also interesting to note that the locomotive sitting immediately behind the Mallet is a small engine (4-4-0 or 4-6-0 ?) that was even then a notable antique (the diamond stack had not been used much after the late 1870s), perhaps to further highlight the sheer size of the Mallet. Surely it was remarkable that locomotives had progressed to this stage in the years since 1829, though not quite the phenomenon as from the Wright brothers' plane in 1903 to the moon in 1969.

4 - 4 - 0 Steam Locomotive 1898

This old cabinet photo has written on its back "Junction of Wilkes-Barre and Scranton, 1898", so it is likely the Wilkes-Barre & Eastern Railroad which was established in 1893 by the New York, Susquehanna & Western Railroad primarily to haul Pennsylvania coal to its northern markets, but it also moved ice from Pocono lakes and served passengers from northwestern Monroe County to Scranton, Wilkes-Barre, Stroudsburg and to connections to New York City. This short passenger combination, pulled by a 4-4-0 engine of earlier vintage, has no route identification anywhere on the locomotive, tender or cars, only the number 7. If you are a rail enthusiast, you may find yourself wishing that more such ornamented locomotives from this era had not gone to the scrapyard, but then you think of the many formerly fine engines that are rusting away in parks and museums from lack of funds for upkeep or restoration. The W-B&E was the shortest line of its region, and its existence was also short – ceasing to operate in 1939. 

Also identified in pencil: S. Cobb, engineer, James Lewsley, fireman, James Nickle, baggageman, Lewis Cook, conductor, Bryon P_____?, fireman. If that identification is left-to-right, the fellow with the shovel doesn't rate a name. It is always interesting, and often amusing, to note curious onlookers – unrelated to the photo being taken – standing far in the background facing the camera directly, obviously aware of what is taking place; in this case the man on the far right may be waiting for the train to move away from what appears to be the vehicle crossing.

I have attached the original state of this image below – not just a victim of age but also of a seller who shoved it into a shipping envelope with no cardboard protection whatsoever (adding extra hours to the restoration process)!

Great Western Railway Locomotive 1889

My research tells me this is 3224, a 2-4-0 coal-fired steam engine, the 18th of 19 Barnum locomotives built at the Great Western Railway's Swindon works in 1889, the last fitted with open sandwich frames in Britain. The GWR was chartered by act of Parliament in 1835 and became the envy of UK railways – sometimes called "God's Wonderful Railway".

The steam engine and first steam railways were British inventions; the first railroads in America used engines and rails from England which is why we inherited the "standard gauge" we use (if you would like to know the short, hilarious tale of where the Brits came up with that gauge, contact me at timebinderpics@gmail.com, I'll email it to you). UK, and indeed european railroad engine designs were always quite different from American counterparts, much sleeker and stylish in overall appearance, especially in the 19th century.

I do not know the location of this photograph; while water was being taken on, the engineers watch the photographer. It is a good size original print but I do not know if it was taken for the company.